Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-08-19

In our life-course we are always leaving
things behind us. We cannot help this it
lies in the very nature of life, which in ev-
cry respect is full of movement. 1t mat
ters not whether we have made a right or
wrong use of the things as facts of life
they are behind us-they are gone beyond
recall. That of itself is solemn thought
for us mortals, in view of the disciplinary
nature of this life, and its bearing on the
unchanging future. Time itself we are ev-
er thus leaving behind us. Days, months,
and years, how silently and swiftly do they
pass Time with all its privileges and re
sponsibilities, all its varieties and expert
ences all its joys and sorrows, all errors
and failures, is daily accumulating behind
us. Childhood, with its joys and sorrows
is past youth with its fulness of life, its
capacity of enjoyment, its ardent expecta-
tions and its golden opportunities, to how
many of us is that behind or fast passing
away And manhood's glorious prime,
when vigor is at its best, talents at maturi-
ty, and life should be most fruitful in noble
and worthy work, with how many is that,
too, behind and gray hairs are here and
there upon us, and we know it not. We
cannot live these days over again we can
not 20 back upon them to repair aught that
was amiss. The privileges and opportunl-
ties which life brought with it are gone. 1t
presented to us the means of mental and NOR
al progress, it opened to us spheres of use
full service, and called us to enter thereon.
But these come not again TO us and to
how many are they only dim and some
times pOrtentous memory There are 9TH
er things which we cannot leave behind u.s.
You pass on from day to day, oft forgetful
of the great issues dependent on it. You
a aNa r,,1- L..
pass on as if you had done with it. But
you cannot thus leave behind you the con-
sequences of the past, the fruits or results
of your daily life. The acts and thoughts
and words are past but these are living
seeds, and their fruit remains for good or
evil. These consequences meet you again
and again they keep pace with you in
your life journey they come up either to
cheer or comfort, or to startle and rebuke
either to strengthen or weaken you in the
great battle of life. Outward life changes,
new scenes open to you, but amid all
changes responsibility remains. That is a
burden you cannot cast off at all. You
may not have felt it amid the excitements
of pleasure, or the press of business, or
the great privileges and opportunities of
the past. All the same it lay upon you,
and IT abides with you in gathering force
through all the scenes OF life, till you ap-
pear before the judgment seat of God.
And character cannot be left behind. 1t
constitutes the true man as he appears and
will be judged in the sight of God, Words,
acts, and thoughts are elements that are
daily forming and fixing it for good or evil
1t is decisive of our future, and, whatever
it be, it remains with us, amid all external
changes. And God cannot be left behind
Too many act as if this could be. They go
forth from Christian, GOd-fearing home
into the business and pleasures of the world,
and throw aside all regard for God or reli-
gion. They ignore all the teaching of early
days, and live as if there were no God, as
if he had ceased to have any care for them,
or as if they no longer owed any allegi-
ance to him. Yet in his being and in his
claims he is unchanging, While, then,
much is left behind, yet the great and
weightiest things, all that go to decide the
future, are not and cannot be left behind.
The Oliper